I have been raking through my old photos which is bringing back lots of memories - as is the "The Younger Me..." thread!

I came across a photo from 1996 of myself and Andrew Goodfellow changing a broken half shaft in Ireland at the side of the road. It took us about 2 hours to do and is still in the car today.



I wonder of any others have stories of memorable roadside repairs?

Another I have, in the same car, was at the top of the Rest and Be Thankful pass in Argyll - March 1994 or so, the flywheel came off its taper half way up making a terrible racket. I was able to hold it on with some fancy clutch work until I reached the top where my friend and I removed the engine, much to the delight of a coach load of Japanese tourists who stopped to photograph the operation. Half way through it started to snow quite heavily but by this point the engine was out and we had no option but to complete the job. The only suitable tool I had to tighten the nut was a pair of Mole grips!

The repair was effective and we were able to continue on to Tayvallich just in time for the pub to open!

And, as if by magic, James Anderson just posted this on FB - my father and Tom Abernethy doing the same job 30 years earlier!

Ruairidh, thats one hell of a roadside repair - hope you don't expect the rest of us to do things like that!

Bryan

Ian - If you wish to show a real roadside repair, I'm sure you still have the photo of the Beer-can Job (was it MacEwan's?) during a BA7C Run. Would be good if you could dig it out to show the troops. Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa, Australia

Here is the photo you are remembering Bill -



Campsite repair by Bob Jones when his Ruby crankshaft/rod let go - on the road to Applecross, NW Scotland (?) - Ian will know more and the full story.

Another photo exists of the same car pushed on its side into a hedge at the side of the road with them changing the big ends - Jen may know of its whereabouts.

More recently in the Scottish Borders...

Well I dont think anyone will top the crankcase repair, so the following are of minor interest.

Argentina 2009 on the fabled Routa 40,"The car Killer" road, twice separated by two days the offside king pin was jacked out of the front axles. This was put down to the rather extreme camber, for the purpose of rain water run-off, and constantly turning left to counter act this camber, opposite to the normal right turn in the UK.

In both cases the thrust washers were found in the gravel beneath the cars and the drag link arms straightened with a locally sourced anvil and hammer of appropriate size. On the second occasion a tourist bus stopped to enjoy the spectacle and a hat was passed around to assist the poor travellers, obviously so impoverished they could not afford proper vehicles!

This is the '29 chummy of Diana Garside and River Dukes, the first to fall foul of Routa 40 malaise


The helpers were kept sustained by emergency soup at the site



This happened two days later to Vince Leek's RP



Here you see the Old Smythe at work with his trusty hammer.



No Baby Austins were permanenetly harmed in the production of these photos

Location: Sunny Cotswolds